Morisco Revolt

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The Morisco Revolt occurred in 1568.

Two years after the death of Suleyman the Magnificent, his successor Selim II was continuing to battle to expand the Ottoman Empire. Philip II of Spain decided to reintroduce old laws prohibiting their customs, religion and language, to goad the minority of Moriscos living in Granada into an open revolt that he could contain, rather than wait for them to side with a possible Ottoman invader in the near future. The Morisco rallied under the leadership of Aben Humeya and evolved into a guerrilla unit based in the Alpujarra mountains.

The suppression of the revolt was handled by Philip's half-brother Don Juan de Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles I - and was fought with a large number of troops from Castile who ended the revolt in 1571. During this extended revolt however, the Ottoman armies successfully invaded Cyprus in 1570 while Spanish forces destroyed the observatory in Istanbul. Don John of Austria went on from suppressing the revolt, to become famous for defeating the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto.

Following the suppression of the revolt Philip II forced the dispersal of the Morisco population of Granada to other areas. Philip II had assumed that this dispersal would weaken the links between members of the Morisco community and would facilitate their assimilation into the Christian population; instead, the measure worsened the situation. Conflict between Moriscos and Christians increased, leading to the final expulsion of the Moriscos by Philip III in 1609.